A thick notebook bound in a black, leathery (but not leather) substance. It is heavier but is usually kept on Cassius' person, as well is the lock that keeps it shut. The first of the entries is dated in 1912, but there are large spaces between the earlier entries, some being as long as 4 years. These pages are worn and some are illegible because of wear and tear. The newer pages look like they've been pasted in, suggesting the book was once much thinner.

The following are recent entries.

July 6, 2012

So I came to BlueAsh for more than one reason, but everyone seems surprised at that. Most people are just assuming I'm here because Ariane (who I haven't spoken to for nearly 20-30 years) is also here. Why is she in this terrible, frozen wasteland? I don't know but I plan on getting her out of here as soon as the coast is clear. I think it has something to with mother, who is apparently up to her usual shenanigans. Ari has implied she's planning something bad, but the more I talk to her about it, the more it seems like Valentina was lying to get Ariane the hell out of Venice for some reason. I don't know. This could just be me trying to idealize the situation or something.

Apparently I have a cousin? His name's Roman. Seems like a nice guy. Got some good ties to the head-honcho of this Davikov business, apparently. Strange, we haven't looked into working the kinks out of this coven, seen as how this is the place they killed Abel. It bugs Ari. It makes me smile. It sounds bad, I know, but I can't help it. There's something satisfying knowing it all. I'm going to make an effort to get to know Roman. He was a lot more laid back before Ariane came out onto the roof, where I was talking to him.

I need to keep my eyes open more for Reph and Gen. I have so much going on with Obisidian, I can't keep track of the mail and telepathy isn't safe. It never is.

This morning, I went up to the roof to get a letter from Rephaim from Romania, telling me how things were looking for the troops. It looks like Angelo's arrived on time. He's off to Venice to deliver the declaration of war and get Mira the hell out of there before they figure out she's on our side. I don't know where he plans on bringing Mira, but I told him to keep her as far out of Italy as possible. Told her to stay away from Isadora too -- too many people know her there. Same goes for Alabaster. I'd have her brought here, but I haven't told Ariane what's going on just yet and I think she'd be pretty pissed off at me if I sprung it on her out of nowhere. I have to ease her into the idea of Obsidian. She's still the head of the Rossetta (though she keeps saying she might resign) and I'll be at war with my own sister, no my TWIN, in a matter of hours.

I have to work around this carefully.

I met that Alanya girl that Roman's been warning me about since day one. She's not nearly as bad as I thought she'd be. He keeps calling her "snap dragon". She's actually rather nice. Offered to sit and talk to me in the kitchen for a little while. Only thing I don't like about her is that she's kind of a flirt. That's not bad because she's hot and all, but she has this weird obsession with Roman? She doesn't stop talking about him. However, she did tell me a few interesting things about him... Maybe it isn't such a good idea for Ari to hang around with him if what she says is true. I don't want him hurting her. I need her at her strongest for what's about to come.

Ariane resigned from the coven. I told her all about Obisidian. Well, not all about it, but a good deal about it. Enough that she understands what we're all about. I told her Mira and Angelo are with us. That's convinced her we're not out there to be the bad guys. We aren't, we're working toward a good cause.

I found out the nature of her and Roman's relationship. They feed from each other. That's one thing. They FEEL for each other, that's another. Ari used the L word. I can't believe it. We always used to fear the day she'd actually find a guy she likes, but I guess it's come and gone before our eyes. I don't know how I feel about it. When it all comes down to it he's still our cousin. Morally it isn't very... Right. But I also don't want to push Ari further from me than she already is. I haven't seen her in 30 years, I don't want to risk her disappearing again.

Hung out with Alanya for a little while again. I kind of want to figure out who SHE is and not what she's trying to be. It's obvious she's trying to impress somebody. Not me, but somebody.

We head back to Alabaster tomorrow night. Right now I'm taking a break from packing and ordering my things sent up from Romania. I have to say, I'm kind of nervous about going home after all these years. I have no idea who I'll recognize or who will recognize me. It's nerve wracking. I got into a lot of trouble when I was a kid back home, so hopefully people don't hold grudges. Ari turned out okay, but then again, she can't REMEMBER all the trouble she got into. Maybe I'll pretend I don't remember what I did too. Think people would buy that?

Not really sure how I'm getting there. I know Roman and Ari are taking the train. I'm told that Sal guy is going a day or two after us, hopefully he'll drag Paloma along with him because god knows I don't want to wind up stuck with her. Alanya's coming up now? I don't know why. I asked her why she wanted to go to Alabaster and she shrugged and changed the subject. Maybe she's bored here. I mean, I don't blame her. I'm kind of bored and I've only been here a week or so. Yeah, I'm told that BlueAsh has a lot of stuff going on in the background, but sometimes that background gets boring too. Knowing Alanya she's probably just coming up to chase after Roman or annoy Ari again. I think, out of all of us, I'm the only one that's actually had a conversation with her. I get that she's sort of a bitch to my sister but it also seems to me that she's very misunderstood. I know I probably shouldn't be trying to figure her out, but I can't help it. I'm bored. Hopefully I'll cut that out once I get home.

I got some pretty shitty news today.I was settled into my room and not even ten minutes later, Rephaim shows up with a letter from the front. It looks like the Rossetta managed to get their hands on Angelo. They held him for information he wouldn't give up, so they killed him. They kill their own heir... They didn't even hesitate to do so... Unfortunately I didnt get the letter until the day before the funeral. I want to go, but that means I will have to tell Ari where I'm going and I don't want to tell her yet. She's getting pretty stressed out at the moment and I don't want to make that worse. Apparently something is going on with the Davikov back in Russia, which caused an upset between Roman and Alanya. And Alanya, being the idiot she is, decides to stab the guy two times? I don't think she would have told me if I didn't walk into the manor to see her bloodied and pacing. I might have to kill Alanya. I personally have nothing against her other than the fact that she can be a bit of a diva, but I don't want her treating my friends or my family like this. It's not needed.

Im stuck here. I know I need to tell Ari about Angelo but I don't want her to freak out. Knowing her if I tell her she'll get on the next plane to Venice with a gun and put bullets in everyone in the Palazzo including our mother, who is on our side but Ari doesn't know that yet.

Going to go back to unpacking my stuff. Hoping this is all going to unfold smoothly...

Tomorrow. I'm going to tell her tomorrow. She seemed to be in a good mood tonight and I didn't want to ruin that.

Roman's going to help me with the coven issue. I'm outnumbered badly, so his first act of leader as the Davikov is going to be lending me some of his troops so I can finally beat the Rossetta. It's kind of ironic, really, that he's helping me take them down when Ariane used to be one of them. Everyone's fighting over her at the moment because everyone wants her in their coven now. That little group in Isadora asked me if I'd lead them and somehow drag her into it. I don't get why they want her so badly. Anyways I'm really happy about the troop situation. It's going to be a big help to us to beat them and I know we'll get a few good members of our own out of the situation. Don't know where we'll go from there. Might take a little bit of a break. I don't want to alert any other covens about this. The whole point of attacking the Rossetta was to give a warning that we would be out here if something else went badly in any other coven in the world, but we don't want to wind up with people coming after us... It's a tough situation. Don't know what I saw in this job sometimes. I offered some sort of payment for the troops for Roman but he says all he wants in return is my blessing for something to do with he and Ari. What would he need that for? It's a really strange thing to ask from someone.

Meeting Miya for coffee tomorrow to catch up. Kind of nervous about that, don't know why. Last time we spoke it wasnt on good terms

Got some news from the front today. We've successfully lured the Rossetta out of their little hole in Venice and into Romania, where sure enough, the Davikov members promised were waiting. All 1,500 of them. Granted 1,500 is a lot more than we really need, it's still more of a guarantee that the Obsidian are going to win this. I don't know what we'll do once we have, but I'm sure the others have an idea. I'm just excited at the prospect of actually being able to do this. I might see if I can ally us with the Davikov once this is over. I think it would be a very good move for us.

The day ended on a good note. I'm going to the Siege Day ball with Miya. We met up for coffee and chatted like we used to all those years ago. She doesn't seem to have changed much. That's good I think.